Sorry about the delay in continued updates on our garden plans! Between snow, illness, more snow, and lots of meetings, things got a little crazy for awhile.

Bed 6 this year will feature a mixture of herbs, cutting flowers, and plants that are attractive to pollinators and beneficial insects. There is a lot going on in this garden!

Like I said, a lot going on! Here’s a few more details about some of the plants.

1 & 5. Sages – We’re going to be planting ‘Blue Anise’ and ‘Maraschino’ sages, which are fall-flowering sages rather than your typical culinary sages.

2&4. Pansies & Nasturtiums – We wanted some early color on the front of the bed facing the garden entrance. As it gets hot, these plants will give way to some of the other plants as they grow. (Both flowers are edibles too!)

3. Pineapple mint is an attractive, variegated mint. We will attempt to keep it confined by planting it in a container and burying the container in the garden. It’s not perfect, but it helps!

6. Anise Hyssop – We’ve grown this before, and it has great purple spike flowers in the summer.

7. ‘Zorba Red’ Oregano is a variety that we found in the Richters catalog that has red-purple sprays with tiny white flowers in the early summer.

8. ‘Magellan Mix’ Zinnias – this is a shorter mix of zinnias that can be used as a border plant.

9. Mexican Mint Marigold aka Sweet Marigold aka Texas Tarragon  is a heat loving annual that is related to regular marigolds, but isn’t much like them! It has small, yellow flowers that are bountiful in the summer and smells and tastes like tarragon, with a strong anise flavor.

10. ‘Red Rubin’ Basil – a red basil variety that has kept its red color pretty well in the past.

11 & 15. Scented Geraniums – We are getting ‘Peacock’ and ‘Lemon Sculpture’ this year. ‘Peacock’ has a rose scent to the leaves and is variegated. ‘Lemon Sculpture’ is a columnar type plant with curled leaves and a lemon scent.

12. ‘Benary’s Giant Mix’ Zinnias – These zinnias are about 3′ tall and are a great variety for cutting flowers.

13. Lemon Verbena – it wouldn’t be summer without a lemon verbena plant in the garden! Maybe I’ll have to try making ice cream again this summer…

14. ‘Goodwin Creek’ Lavender – We’ve had this variety before as it does well in the heat and blooms for most of the summer.

16. Bronze Fennel – This will be along part of the back edge as a filler plant and butterfly food!

17. Lemongrass – It’s been a couple years since we’ve had lemongrass in the garden. We’ll probably buy a stalk from the grocery store to root for this project.

18. ‘Dukat’ Dill – This variety is a heavy foliage producer before it starts flowering and seeding. If nothing else, the caterpillars will be happy about that!

19. ‘African Blue’ Basil – This is a vigorous plant with a stronger camphor odor than other basils. It flowers profusely and the bees love the flowers. It also has a purple tinge to the leaves and veins.

Whew! I hope we can fit everything into the garden now that we have the seeds and plants ordered!